Kirsten Gillibrand in 2018 NY Senate race

On Gun Control:
Inaction on mass shootings due to greed of NRA & gunmakers

After the Thousand Oaks Shooting at a country music bar, Gillibrand said, "It is extraordinarily heartbreaking and it's infuriating because Congress literally has done nothing in the face of gun death after gun death in communities all across this
country. And it is because of the greed: the greed of the gun manufacturers and the greed of the NRA."

Still, the pro-gun reform lawmaker offered some hope for future reform based on Tuesday's elections. "I do believe things are changing.
And the reason why I believe that is because we had candidates run in this last election who ran on this issue," she said.

Still, Gillibrand foresaw more work ahead of Democrats to pass stricter gun laws. "We have to obviously flip the
Senate to be able to do whatever the House could do, that common-sense reform," Gillibrand said. "But I think the country is in a place where we will fight this until we get it done because you need these basic reforms."

Source: Hollywood Reporter on 2018 New York Senate race
Nov 8, 2018

On Health Care:
Expand Medicare and add not-for-profit public option

They disagreed on Medicare-for-all and the new tax bill, with Gillibrand saying she supports improving the health care system, including expanding Medicare.

"I believe people should have access to the life-saving health care that they need," she
said. "So I believe in Medicare for all, because if you have a not-for-profit public option, if you had a system where you could have access to the healthcare that you need, you would have the ability to have preventive care and people with
pre-existing conditions would be able to get the coverage they want."

Farley argued that health care costs are spiraling out of control and that Gillibrand's proposals amount to socialized medicine. "What she is proposing means that no one will be
allowed to have employer health care," Farley said. "If you like your health care, will you be able to keep it? The answer is no."

On Immigration:
Central American migrant caravan is seeking asylum

The candidates clashed on immigration, whether ICE should be abolished, and the massive migrant caravan moving slowly through Mexico. "People are calling it a caravan, I call it an invasion," Farley said. "We can't allow open borders."

"I do not support open borders, and neither do Democrats," Gillibrand countered. "What we have in this country is an immigration crisis. You have people in this caravan to seek asylum in this country.
Immigration has always been a strength in this country. We are a country founded by immigrants. So we need to fix our broken immigration system. Separating children from their parents at the border is immoral, that's what this president has done."

"This is an act of terrorism," Farley responded. "It's got to stop. But my opponent, Senator Gillibrand, wants to abolish ICE, which since 9/11 is the group primarily responsible for stopping terror."

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand has new legislation that aims to reduce the strikingly high rates of maternal deaths across the country. The bill comes after a USA TODAY investigation exposed more than 50,000 women are severely injured each year in connection
to childbirth. About 700 mothers die. The best estimates say that half of these deaths could be prevented with better care.

Over the past decade, New York had a major increase in maternal mortality: maternal deaths statewide has risen from 13.2 per
100,000 live births in 2006, to 25 per 100,000 live births in 2015, Gillibrand said.

Gillibrand's legislation, The Modernizing Obstetric Medicine Standards (MOMS) Act, would provide funding to help hospitals implement standardized best practices to
prevent and respond to complications arising from childbirth.

Hospitals often lack the funding necessary for supplies and proper training to implement standards and prevent complications and deaths arising from childbirth, Gillibrand said.

Q: Is there a direct line between President Trump's election and the number of women running now?

GILLIBRAND: Absolutely.

Q: Based on not demographic shifts, but just pure protest?

GILLIBRAND: Protest, anger, frustration, and determination to
protect their families. Donald Trump has been accused by more than a dozen women of sexual assault and sexual harassment alone has infuriated women enough to do something, taking the risk to actually run for office.

Q: But all those things came to
light when he was running as candidate. He was elected regardless.

GILLIBRAND: Fair enough. But, the response to him being elected, is this overwhelming desire of women to be heard, to be counted and to fight back against what he stands for.
He demeans women. He devalues women. He's constantly trying to harm our families and our communities. And so women, when they know their family is being harmed, they will run through fire. They will do whatever it takes to protect their family.

On Immigration:
Get rid of ICE; separate anti-terrorism from border control

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) recently joined a growing number of Democrats who say they should get rid the agency when they take back control of the House and the Senate after the midterms.

"I think we should get rid of ICE," she said. "We should
separate out two missions and do the anti-terrorism mission, the national security mission, and then on the other side, make sure you're doing-- looking at immigration as a humanitarian issue. These are civil issues."

On Foreign Policy:
Opposes boycotts of businesses in Israel

Gillibrand criticized the call from the UN Human Rights Council's special rapporteur for a boycott of companies in settlements (and called for his removal), criticized a food-labeling measure by the EU that mandated that products made
in the settlements be labeled as such, and worked with Schumer to rebuke the UN Security Council's condemnation of the settlements early this year.

In 2007, she cosponsored the SAVE Act, which significantly beefed up border patrols, required all employers to check the immigration status of their employees through a flawed computer database, established monetary rewards for anyone who helped
catch an undocumented immigrant trying to obtain falsified documents, and turned local police into an arm of federal immigration enforcement. She supported financially penalizing sanctuary cities.

Source: Jacobin Magazine on 2018 New York Senate race
May 9, 2017

On Immigration:
2010: moratorium on government immigration raids

After meeting with the New York Immigration Coalition, she announced her support for a moratorium on government raids, for clearing the backlog of entry applications for immigrant families and reducing the waiting time, and for a path
to citizenship in the temporary worker program. "I did expand my views on immigration, mostly because I did not have a large immigrant community in my district," Gillibrand said in 2010.